Atletico Madrid 1-1 Celta Vigo: Sorloth´s late strike rescues point for 10-man hosts

Atletico Madrid wasted a golden opportunity to go top of the LaLiga table after they were held to a 1-1 draw at home by Celta Vigo on Saturday.

Diego Simeone’s side played almost the entire game with a man short, after midfielder Pablo Barrios was shown a straight red card for a reckless studs-up tackle on Pablo Duran only four minutes in.

The hosts were in further trouble when Robin Le Normand fouled Borja Iglesias inside the box and the referee awarded a penalty to Celta.

Iago Aspas stepped up and converted the spot-kick to give the visitors the breakthrough in the 68th minute.

But Alexander Sorloth came off the bench to finish off a counter-attack in the 81st minute and rescued a valuable point for the home side.

The result left Atletico one point behind leaders Real Madrid, who were held 1-1 by Osasuna earlier in the day, after 24 games in the Spanish top division. Barcelona are third on 48 points and could move to the summit with a win against Rayo Vallecano on Monday.

Celta, meanwhile, are 12th with 29 points.

Termina el partido con tablas en el marcador. pic.twitter.com/zgxQGxkdUE

— Atlético de Madrid (@Atleti) February 15, 2025

Data Debrief: Atleti continue to stumble

After eight consecutive wins in LaLiga between November and January, Atletico have now dropped points in four of their last five league games (W1 D3 L1).

Celta, meanwhile, were nine minutes away from their first away win against Atletico since 2007 but have not won any of their last 13 games on the road against them.

Aspas, meanwhile, scored only his third goal in 21 LaLiga games against Atletico and his penalty was the first goal the 37-year-old has scored at Atletico during his career.